FIABCI Malaysia president Tengku Datuk Ab Aziz Tengku Mahmud pointed out that the awards – dubbed as the ‘Oscars’ for the industry – serve as the guidance and inspiration for developers to continue undertaking more creative and innovative projects that would benefit the industry.

“From 1992, FIABCI Malaysia is proud to have been organising this most prestigious property award – not only is it the highest recognition in the local real estate and property industry, but it also serves as the benchmark for the developers to continuously undertake excellent projects that are on par with – or even outshine – properties from overseas,” he said in a statement issued from Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Tengku Ab Aziz also congratulated last year’s Malaysian winners for bagging four awards at FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence Awards 2017, held at Andorra in May this year.

Meanwhile FIABCI Malaysia honorary treasurer Teh Teik Bin, also the award’s organising chairman, expressed his pride that the organising committee had been entrusted with the task of upholding the premium standard of the evaluation process and judging criteria.

The addition of a new assessment criterion was approved this year, which was affordable housing.

“By adding this criterion, it would encourage more developers to build more affordable houses – those with high quality but are price-friendly – that help the younger generation of first-time homebuyers to own their houses.”